NOT AS THEY SHOULD BE

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 48, 19 May 1927, Page 6

NOT AS THEY SHOULD BE

TRENCHANT CRITIC SLATES AUSTRALIAN RACING CONTROL Some day soon the committee of the Australian Jockey Club must take cognisance of the condition into which racing is drifting at headquarters. For the “Sport of Kings” is at the moment decidedly unhealthy. At Randwick and upon every course the main topic of conversation to-day is not the chances of the several horses in a race, but “What do you know?” and “What is trying?” thus writes “Turfite” in last Thursday’s Sydney “Sun.” And nobody can take up a sporting paper without becoming conscious of more than an undercurrent of unpleasant and disturbing implications. It is all very well to attempt to dismiss these as the ferment of suspicious minds. Something more is required of those who control racing. Recent extraordinary reversals of form fit too exactly into the gossip of the racecourses to be thrust aside as idle happenings which can be lightly ignored. “CROOK” ALL ROUND And every habitue of the racecourse knows that these curiously circumstantial tales are not confined solely to flat racing. Hurdles and steeplechases are also being canvassed. It is not so long ago that all obstacle races at suburban courses were accompanied by hazards which were not naturally a part of the contests. There was most excellent reason for believing that races of this class were frequently “fixed,” and the chief culprit had the sagacity to always be on the horses which won. This school was broken up, but recent events suggest that history may soon repeat itself. On a leading course not so long ago only a minority of the fielders called the odds. Most of them prepared to do so, but strange tidings were carried to the big men by their secret service and clients were met with the assertion “1 am not betting on this race.” Privately they affirmed that the race was a “certainty” for one horse. And it duly won in most hollow fashion. Then they resumed business. LEVIATHAN BAULKS During the autumn meeting at Randwick one of the most prominent bookmakers stood down from his stand and refused to make any bets on one race. His action was in direct conflict with vthe rules of the A.J.C. He was well aware of this, but lie remarked to a friend: “They (the A.J.C. Committee) can kick up a row if they like. I am not going to be a pigeon for hawks to pluck me.” He did not make a bet. The horse which he indicated won. He was not challenged for not fielding. Other instances could be cited equally sinister in appearance. Those who regularly “follow the horses” are alive to what is going forward, and shrug their shoulders. HORSE SUDDENLY IMPROVES Again at Randwick there was one stupendous improvement in form, and the stable made a fortune out of its accurate guess as to what would occur. The general public expected the A.J.C. would want some explanation. But nothing happened. Intimates of those jn authority, however, averred mysteriously that “So-and-so was nearly carpeted.” This, it was evidently felt, was a tremendous threat. Then there is the foul, or, at least, inefficient, riding which has spoilt almost every race of late. It may be indignantly denied that it has been “foul,” but the description faithfully holds if any jockey in a race recklessly endangers the chances of any horse and the life of its rider by forcing an opening which can only be made by other horses being knocked about. Inasmuch as it is a determined attempt to secure a position regardless of consequences, it is intentional and foul riding. BUMPED BY EVERY HORSE Just as great a blemish is the incapacity of some of the jockeys. There has been a sequence of accidents of horses falling during a race. Every meeting horses are thrown out of work by being galloped on. Each day an official inquiry results in it being discovered that Mars galloped on the heels of Venus, but nobody was to blame. It just happens. Recently the crowding in three of the races was a disgrace to the turf, and one owner was informed by his jockey that practically every horse in the race had bumped his mount. Anybody with a decent pair of glasses can see the gross interference that occurs, but the offenders get off scot free. DISCIPLES OF NELSON There are scandals which are shouted on the housetops. They are patent to the most obtuse. Why does not the A.J.C. take action? Why is it so blind to what is going on ? The committee is composed of men who have merited the distinguished position which they occupy. But they cannot expect to retain the confidence of the racing public if they imitate Nelson when the sport is being brought into disrepute. It is within their power to clean up any roguery in the running of horses even though it is difficult to unmask wrongdoers. And it is clearly easy for them to assure patrons that form shall not be brought to nought by the lack of horsemanship of many of the jockeVs who now disfigure the track. TO QUALIFY RIDING TO HOUNDS POSITION OF JOCKEYS WELL-KNOWN RIDER FOLLOWS ON FOOT In connection with the mishap which befell T. Green, who had his collarbone fractured when out following the hounds at Palmerston North, a Southern writer suggests that there “should be a rule of racing to prevent apprentice riders schooling horses for racing or qualifying them for hunters’ events. Some seasons back H. Dunn was seriously injured by a fall from Fireblight while schooling at Hastings.” This is all very well in its way, but this is the age of the motor, and it is quite probable that there would be insufficient amateur riders to do the necessary work in qualifying horses. The full-fledged jockey would not care to undertake the task. Like everything else in this life, this sort of exercise is all right as a sport, but not when one’s livelihood is obtained as a professional horseman. It savours too much of knocking off work to carry bricks. BAD FOR APPRENTICES? Of course, it is an entirely different j matter when trainers anxious to qualify any of their charges put apprentices on them to follow the hounds. This was probably the case with T. Green, who was riding Askari at the time, and yet there is little doubt that, being so keen on horses as this mid look fwith pleasurable anticipation to riding over paddocks and taking in his stride wire fences, gorse hedges, and ditches. So in this event it was or 1 the boy’s keenness that got him into trouble through Askari falling. Incidentally T. Green is so devoted to horses that he is reported to have left college to become a knight of the pigskin, and

in so doing disappointed his parents, who desired him to study for the priesthood, or, alternatively, the medical profession. Now young Green, still an apprentice, is at the head of the list of winning jockeys. FOLLOWERS ON FOOT The Rangitikei Hunt Club held a meet last week, and among the “followers on foot” was the crack horseman L. G. Morris! Obviously he is not taking any more risks, for he has had more than his share of misfortune during the past 12 months. Horses qualifying in the Marton district are Great Day, Alaric, and Banjuke, all good winners on the flat, while Alaric a couple of years ago was regarded as one of the most promising hurdlers in the country. Banjuke has also won over hurdles, and the bigger fences, and he is engaged in the big steeplechase at Wanganui to-morrow. The Wanganui jockev- D. C. Watts, was following the Rangitikei hounds on Great Day. He will be riding over the sticks as well as on the flat during the winter meeting.